Proskauer just wants to have funds

Last month it was Weil Gotshal & Manges tapping up Clifford Chance for a team of funds lawyers (see story), now it’s SJ Berwin’s turn to be raided, with funds partners Nigel van Zyl and Oliver Rochman off to pastures new (see story).

To rub salt into the wound, it is Proskauer Rose, the firm that SJ Berwin was in merger talks with until November last year, doing the filching.

Has SJ Berwin considered that they weren’t merger talks at all, and that it was all just a ruse for Proskauer to check out the talent at SJB, like a crew of robbers casing a bank before a big heist? Probably not - few people are that cynical.

Anyway, van Zyl and Rochman are both understood to have resigned from SJB, but it’s not known when they will join Proskauer.

SJB remains defiant, insisting that it still has a premier funds team, but with gaps like that it’s no wonder vacation scheme students at the firm are pulling all-nighters (see story).

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